JP2001022626A - Information processor, information processing method and medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve operability. SOLUTION: In the DCF system of a digital electronic still camera, an intra- hierarchy identification symbol DCF Directory ID ('001') of a most significant hierarchy DCF Directory, an intra-hierarchy identification symbol DCF Object ID ('0001') of a second low-order hierarchy DCF Object and an intra-hierarchy identification symbol File type ID (JPG) of a least significant hierarchy File type are coupled and defined as a file identification symbol ('0010001JPG'). The file identification symbol ('0010001000') of File type of '000' expresses the entire higher-order hierarchy DCF Object.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, method, and medium, and more particularly, to an information processing apparatus, method, and medium capable of easily searching information managed in a plurality of layers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, IEEE (Institute of Electrical
and Electronic Engineers) A 1394 high-speed serial bus (hereinafter, also simply referred to as a 1394 bus as required) is becoming widespread. Many electronic devices (nodes) can be connected to the 1394 bus to exchange information with each other. For example, a digital still camera and a personal computer can be connected to a 1394 bus, and an image captured and stored by the digital electronic still camera can be searched by a personal computer, output to a monitor, and displayed.

[0003]

The digital electronic still camera is capable of not only capturing a large number of images, but also generating a thumbnail image for search, which is a reduced image, and storing it as a file. Can be. Further, the digital electronic still camera can also input audio data accompanying the image, text data in which a situation at the time of imaging is noted, and store the file as a file.

As a result, digital electronic still cameras are
It is necessary to manage many files, and it is desired to realize a file management method capable of easily searching for a desired file from among many files.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and it is an object of the present invention to realize a system which can be easily searched.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus, wherein an in-hierarchy identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to each hierarchy, and an information identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to each hierarchy. It is composed of an identification symbol in the lower hierarchy to which the information belongs and an identification symbol including the identification symbol in the upper hierarchy to which the lower hierarchy belongs, and the information identification symbol for identifying the entire upper hierarchy is defined by the Means composed of an identification symbol in a hierarchy of a higher hierarchy to which information belongs and an identification symbol including an identification symbol in a hierarchy of a lower hierarchy belonging to the hierarchy that is not actually assigned in the lower hierarchy. It is characterized by having.

According to the information processing method of the present invention, an in-layer identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to each layer, and an information identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to a lower layer to which the information belongs. And an identification symbol that includes the identification symbol in the upper layer to which the lower layer belongs, and the information identification symbol that identifies the entire upper layer as the upper layer to which the information belongs. And an identification symbol including a symbol that is not actually assigned in the lower hierarchy among the identification symbols in the lower hierarchy belonging to the higher hierarchy. .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the medium program, for each layer, an in-layer identification symbol for identifying information within the layer is assigned, and an information identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to a lower layer to which the information belongs. And an identification symbol that includes the identification symbol in the upper layer to which the lower layer belongs, and the information identification symbol that identifies the entire upper layer as the upper layer to which the information belongs. And an identification symbol including a symbol that is not actually assigned in the lower hierarchy among the identification symbols in the lower hierarchy belonging to the higher hierarchy. .

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus, an in-layer identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to each layer, and an information identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to a lower layer to which the information belongs. Means for assigning an in-hierarchy identification symbol, an identification symbol including an in-hierarchy identification symbol of an upper hierarchy to which a lower hierarchy belongs, and an in-hierarchy identification symbol of a predetermined hierarchy. And a search means for searching for information corresponding to the information identification symbol whose identification symbol in a predetermined hierarchy is specified by the specification symbol.

[0010] The search means may search for information having an immediately-adjacent layer identification symbol of a layer immediately above the layer whose hierarchy identification symbol is designated by the designated symbol, or It is possible to search all information belonging to a layer immediately above the layer specified by the specified symbol.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in each of the layers, an in-layer identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to each layer, and an information identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to a lower layer to which the information belongs. And an identification symbol including an identification symbol including an intra-layer identification symbol of a higher layer to which a lower layer belongs, and an in-layer identification symbol of a predetermined layer, And a retrieval step of retrieving information corresponding to the information identification symbol whose identification symbol in a predetermined hierarchy is specified by the designation symbol.

In the medium program according to the present invention, an in-layer identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to each layer, and an information identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to a lower layer to which the information belongs. And an identification symbol including an identification symbol including an intra-layer identification symbol of a higher layer to which a lower layer belongs, and an in-layer identification symbol of a predetermined layer, And a retrieval step of retrieving information corresponding to the information identification symbol whose identification symbol in a predetermined hierarchy is specified by the designation symbol.

[0013] The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, and claim 2
In the information processing method described in the above, and the medium described in the claim 3, the information identification symbol for identifying the entire upper layer, the identification symbol in the hierarchy of the upper layer to which the information belongs,
Among the identification symbols in the lower hierarchy belonging to the higher hierarchy, the identification symbols include those that are not actually assigned in the lower hierarchy.

[0014] The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, and claim 7
In the information processing method described in the item (1) and the medium described in the item (8), information corresponding to the information identification symbol whose identification symbol in the predetermined hierarchy is designated by the designation symbol is searched.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a bus system to which the present invention is applied. The digital electronic still camera 2 is connected to a personal computer 4 and a printer 5 via an IEEE1394 high-speed serial bus 1. The digital electronic still camera 2 has a camera unit 3 as a functional block on a 1394 bus. The camera unit 3 has a camera subunit 11 that executes a function of imaging a subject and an image captured by the camera subunit 11. It has a camera storage subunit 12 for storing data.

The personal computer 4 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 32 as shown in FIG.
Built-in. The CPU 32 is a ROM (Read Only Memory)
A program stored in the hard disk 33 or the hard disk 35 is executed. RAM (Random Access Memory) 34
Stores programs and data executed by the CPU 32 as appropriate.

An input / output interface 36 is connected to the CPU 32 via a bus 31. The input / output interface 36 includes an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and a CRT (Ca
display unit 37 such as a thode ray tube), an input unit 38 such as a keyboard and a mouse, a communication unit 39 such as a modem for communicating with the digital electronic still camera 2 or the printer 5 via the 1394 bus 1, and mounted. A drive 40 for driving a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or the like, is connected.

When the camera subunit 11 captures an image of a subject in response to a user's command, the camera subunit 11 transfers the image data to the camera storage subunit 12. The camera subunit 11 also allows the user to input an audio signal from a microphone (not shown),
When characters, symbols, and the like are input from a tablet (not shown), the audio data and text data are transferred to the camera storage subunit 12.

The camera storage subunit 12 includes
When image data of a still image is input, it is compressed, given a predetermined ID (identification symbol), stored in a built-in memory (not shown) as one file (image file), and Then, a thumbnail image whose size is reduced is generated, given a predetermined ID, and stored in a built-in memory as one file (thumbnail file). Also, when audio data or text data is input, the camera storage subunit 12 assigns a predetermined ID to the data and stores them as one file (audio file or text file) in a built-in memory.

FIG. 3 shows a camera storage subunit 1
Reference numeral 2 denotes a method of managing the files stored in this way as a DCF system. As shown in the figure, the files are managed hierarchically. The highest level is DCF Directory, and the second level is DCF Obj
ect, and the lowest level is File type.

Each layer is assigned an in-layer identification symbol that can be distinguished from the others in the layer. DCF Director
In y, three digits from the number 001 to the number 999 (B
CD (Binary-Coded Decimal)) is used as an intra-hierarchy identification symbol. In the DCF Object, four-digit numbers (BCD) from number 0001 to number 9999 are used as intra-hierarchy identification symbols. In the File type, a number (3 bytes) (hexadecimal) obtained by converting a character (for example, three characters) representing the type of the file into a predetermined code (for example, ASCII code) is used as an intra-hierarchical identification symbol. Used as

Assuming that the file type (extension) is represented by three letters, that is, alphabetic or numeric, the uppercase alphabet is represented by ASCII.
41h to 5Ah, lowercase letters are represented by 61h to 7Ah, and numbers are represented by 30h to 39h, respectively. For example, if the image file is represented by "JPG", its ASCII representation is 4A5047h, and if the thumbnail file is represented by "THM", its ASCII representation is 54484Dh, and the audio file is represented by "WAV". And its ASCII representation is 5
74156h, and assuming that the text file is represented by “TXT”, its ASCII representation is 545854h
Becomes

The file identification symbol of each file is composed of information identification symbols obtained by combining these three hierarchical identification symbols. For example, as shown in FIG.
Directory is “001”, DCF Object is “0001”, F
If the ile type is "JPG", "0010001JPG"
Becomes a file identification symbol (However, actually, "JPG"
Is converted to an ASCII code (4A5047).)

In this case, in the file type, 00h to 2Fh, 3Ah to 40h, 5Bh to 60h, 7B
h to FFh are not used. For example, “0” among values that are not actually used for the purpose of discriminating from others in this hierarchy.
“00000” (hexadecimal) is a special value, and when that value is used in a file identification symbol, it is assumed to represent the entire immediately upper hierarchy. For example, “00”
“1000100000” means that Directory is “001”
And the DCF Object represents the entire hierarchy of “0001”. This allows the entire hierarchy to be represented according to the rules for identifying files at individual levels,
It is possible to intuitively and correctly recognize the entire predetermined hierarchy (it is possible to prevent the user from seeing the file identification symbol and having difficulty in recognizing where the whole hierarchy is). .

This file identification symbol is a type of AV / C Object ID defined in the 1394 bus standard.
As shown in FIG. 5, it is stored at a predetermined address in a descriptor in the camera storage subunit 12. entry_type specifies the type of the entry. In the case of DCF, the value is 80 (16
Base number). drive_id represents a drive in a subunit (in this case, the camera storage subunit 12). The number of bytes assigned to the file type is fixed, and if there are extra bits, 0 is padded there.

Further, in the present invention, a function represented by the following equation (1) is defined so that a predetermined file can be quickly searched from many files.

GET NEXT OBJECT ID (file identification code) (1) The function of the expression (1) is the same as the file identification code described as an argument in parentheses, and identifies the latest larger file identification in the same file type. A function that returns a symbol. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the DCF Directory ID is “001”,
DCF Object ID is “0001” and File type is “0000”
11,000100,001000,001010,0
11010, 011011 "," 0010001000100 "is used as an argument in Expression (1).
Is specified and a search is instructed, the file identification symbol “0010001001000” is returned as a search result (the value “0010001000 specified as an argument”).
The next largest value after “100” is “001100010001”.
01 ", but since there is no file identifier of this value, a file identifier of a larger and closest value is searched for among the existing file identifiers).

Further, in the present invention, a reserved word of the symbol "?" Is prepared as a means for masking (ignoring) the in-layer identification symbol of a predetermined layer among the arguments in the equation (1). For example, in equation (1), the argument “0010
When masking the file type of “0010001100”, the argument is “0010001? ? ? "

Now, for example, as shown in FIG.
Assume that there are file identification symbols. Note that, in FIG. 7, for convenience, the in-hierarchy identification symbol of the File type is shown as it is in alphabetical characters.
In this case, “1” is used as an argument in Expression (1).
000000? ? ? "Is specified as" 1000001? " ? ? Is returned. As an argument, "1000001?" ? ? "Is specified, the file identification symbol" 100000
2? ? ? Is returned. As an argument, "1000002" is returned.
? ? ? "Is designated as a file identification symbol," 1000005? " ? ? Is returned.

Similarly, for example, “10
0? ? ? ? ? ? ? DCF Directory
Can be searched.

By repeating such a search, it is possible to sequentially search for the next largest file identification symbol in a predetermined hierarchy.

Further, in the present invention, a symbol "%" is prepared as a reserved word of a wild card. In the equation (1), for example, “100000
If "5 %%%" is specified,
“1000005JPG, 1000005THM” is returned. That is, thereby, the file identification symbols existing in the same hierarchy can be searched collectively.

In the above example, 000000h is DCF
Used to represent Object, 3F3F3Fh (???)
Are used for masking (ignoring) and 26262
6h was used as a wild card.

However, for example, 0 is added to the image file.
1h, 02h to a thumbnail file, 03h to an audio file, 04h to a text file, and 05h to F0h for future files, respectively, 00h
May be used to represent a DCF Object, FEh may be used for masking (ignoring), and FFh may be used as a wildcard.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
The user operates the personal computer 4 and
A process for controlling the camera storage subunit 12 of the camera unit 3 via the bus 1 and searching for a desired file from the files stored therein will be described. In step S1, the user determines whether to search for the next file identification symbol in a predetermined hierarchy. When searching for the next file identification symbol in the predetermined hierarchy, the process proceeds to step S2, where the user operates the input unit 38 of the personal computer 4 to use the reserved word for masking in the above-described equation (1). To search.

The CPU 32 responds to this command and responds to the
9 to output a control signal (AV / C command) to the camera storage subunit 12 via the 1394 bus 1.
Execute search processing. The camera storage subunit 12 transfers information obtained as a result of the search to the personal computer 4 via the 1394 bus 1.

In the personal computer 4, upon receiving the information from the camera storage subunit 12, the communication section 39 transfers the information to the CPU 32. The CPU 32 supplies the transferred information to the display unit 37 for display.

If the user determines in step S1 that the process is not to search for the next file identification symbol in the predetermined hierarchy, the process proceeds to step S3, and determines whether to search all file identification symbols. . When searching for all the file identification symbols, the process proceeds to step S4, and the user operates the input unit 38 to execute the above-described expression (1).
Command a search using a reserved word of a wild card.

The CPU 32 responds to this command and responds to the communication
9 to output a control signal (AV / C command) to the camera storage subunit 12 via the 1394 bus 1.
Execute search processing. The camera storage subunit 12 transfers information obtained as a result of the search to the personal computer 4 via the 1394 bus 1.

In the personal computer 4, upon receiving the information from the camera storage subunit 12, the communication section 39 transfers the information to the CPU 32. The CPU 32 supplies the transferred information to the display unit 37 for display.

If the user determines in step S3 that all file identification symbols are not to be searched, the process proceeds to step S5 and instructs a search by another method. For example, a search is instructed without using a reserved word in the above equation (1).

Also in this case, steps S2 and S
4, in response to this command, the CPU 32 controls the communication unit 39, outputs a control signal (AV / C command) to the camera storage subunit 12 via the 1394 bus 1, and performs a search process. Is executed. The camera storage subunit 12 stores the information obtained as a result of the search in 13
94 Transfer to the personal computer 4 via the bus 1.

In the personal computer 4, upon receiving the information from the camera storage subunit 12, the communication section 39 transfers the information to the CPU 32. The CPU 32 supplies the transferred information to the display unit 37 for display.

After the processing in step S2, S4 or S5, the process proceeds to step S6, in which the user operates the input unit 38 to specify information to be printed from the search results. In response to this command, the CPU 32 controls the communication unit 39, outputs a control signal (AV / C command) to the camera storage subunit 12 via the 1394 bus 1, and sends the designated file to the printer 5. Request a transfer. In response to this request, the camera storage subunit 12
94 Transfer the designated file to the printer 5 via the bus 1. In step S7, the printer 5 prints the file transferred from the camera storage subunit 12.

The series of processes described above can be executed by hardware, but can also be executed by software. When a series of processing is executed by software, a computer constituting the software is installed in the camera storage subunit 12 as dedicated hardware,
Or, by installing various programs,
It is installed in, for example, a general-purpose personal computer 4 that can execute various functions.

Next, referring to FIG. 9, a program for executing the above-described series of processes is installed in a computer, and a computer used for making the computer executable is a general-purpose personal computer. The following is an example of the case.

As shown in FIG. 9A, the program is stored in a hard disk 101 or a semiconductor memory 102 as a recording medium built in the personal computer 4.
Can be provided to the user in a state where it is installed in advance.

Alternatively, the program is as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.
11, CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory) 11
2. MO (Magneto-Optical) disc 113, DVD (Digit
al Versatile Disk) 114, a magnetic disk 115, a semiconductor memory 116, or other such storage media, which can be temporarily or permanently stored and provided as package software.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9C, the program is wirelessly transferred from the download site 121 to the personal computer 4 via the artificial satellite 122 for digital satellite broadcasting, The data can be transferred to the personal computer 4 via a network 131 such as the Internet by wire, and stored in the built-in hard disk 101 or the like in the personal computer 4.

The medium in the present specification means a broad concept including all these media.

In this specification, the steps of describing a program provided by a medium are not limited to processing performed in chronological order according to the described order, but are not necessarily performed in chronological order. It also includes processes that are executed individually or individually.

In this specification, the system is
It represents the entire device composed of a plurality of devices.

[0053]

As described above, according to the information processing apparatus according to the first aspect, the information processing method according to the second aspect, and the medium according to the third aspect, the information for identifying the entire upper hierarchy. The identification symbol includes the identification symbol in the hierarchy of the higher hierarchy to which the information belongs and the identification symbol in the hierarchy of the lower hierarchy belonging to the higher hierarchy that is not actually assigned in the lower hierarchy. , An erroneous operation can be prevented, and a system with improved operability can be realized.

An information processing apparatus according to claim 4, and claim 7.
According to the information processing method described in (1) and the medium described in (8), the information corresponding to the information identification symbol specified by the specified symbol is searched for in the predetermined hierarchy. It is possible to easily and reliably search for desired information from among the above information.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a bus system to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a personal computer 4 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating file management of a camera storage subunit 12 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a file identification symbol.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating storage of a file identification symbol in a descriptor.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a file identification symbol.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another example of a file identification symbol.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the system in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a medium.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 IEEE1394 high-speed serial bus, 2 digital electronic still camera, 3 camera unit, 4 personal computer, 5 printer, 11 camera subunit, 12 camera storage subunit

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Takuya Igarashi 6-35, Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Sony Corporation F-term (reference) 5B075 MM70 ND03 ND06 ND14 ND35 ND10 NK10 PQ05 PQ32 UU40 5B082 EA01 EA07 5C052 AC08 GA02 GB06 5C053 FA08 FA14 FA30 GB36 JA21 KA24

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An information processing apparatus for managing information in a plurality of hierarchies, wherein in each hierarchy, an in-hierarchy identification symbol for identifying information in the hierarchy is assigned, and an information identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to
Said in-hierarchy identification symbol of the lower hierarchy to which the information belongs;
An identification symbol including an in-layer identification symbol of an upper layer to which the lower layer belongs, and an information identification symbol for identifying the entire upper layer, the in-layer identification symbol of the upper layer to which the information belongs An information processing apparatus comprising: an identification symbol including an identification symbol in a lower layer belonging to a higher layer that is not actually assigned in the lower layer. 2. An information processing method for an information processing apparatus which manages information in a plurality of layers, wherein an in-layer identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to each layer, and an information identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to each layer. ,
Said in-hierarchy identification symbol of the lower hierarchy to which the information belongs;
An identification symbol including an in-layer identification symbol of an upper layer to which the lower layer belongs, and an information identification symbol for identifying the entire upper layer, the in-layer identification symbol of the upper layer to which the information belongs And an identification symbol that includes an identification symbol in a lower layer belonging to the higher layer and that is not actually assigned in the lower layer. 3. An information processing program for managing information in a plurality of layers, wherein an in-layer identification symbol for identifying information within the layer is assigned to each layer, and an information identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to each layer.
Said in-hierarchy identification symbol of the lower hierarchy to which the information belongs;
An identification symbol including an in-layer identification symbol of an upper layer to which the lower layer belongs, and an information identification symbol for identifying the entire upper layer, the in-layer identification symbol of the upper layer to which the information belongs Computer program, comprising, among the identification symbols in the lower hierarchy belonging to the higher hierarchy, identification symbols including those that are not actually assigned in the lower hierarchy. The medium to be executed. 4. An information processing apparatus for managing information in a plurality of hierarchies, wherein in each hierarchy, an intra-hierarchy identification symbol for identifying information in the hierarchy is allocated, and an information identification symbol for identifying information is assigned.
Said in-hierarchy identification symbol of the lower hierarchy to which the information belongs;
An identification symbol assigning means configured by an identification symbol including an identification symbol in a higher hierarchy to which the lower hierarchy belongs; and the identification symbol in the hierarchy of a predetermined hierarchy is designated by a predetermined designation symbol set in advance. An information processing apparatus comprising: a designation unit; and a retrieval unit that retrieves information corresponding to the information identification symbol in which the identification symbol in the predetermined hierarchy is specified by the designation symbol. 5. The search means according to claim 1, wherein said in-hierarchy identification symbol is a hierarchy of a hierarchy immediately above the hierarchy specified by said specification symbol,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein information having the nearest adjacent intra-hierarchy identification symbol is searched. 6. The information according to claim 1, wherein said search means searches for all the information belonging to a hierarchy immediately above the hierarchy specified by said designation symbol in said hierarchy identification symbol. Processing equipment. 7. An information processing method for an information processing apparatus for managing information in a plurality of hierarchies, wherein an in-hierarchy identification symbol for identifying information in the hierarchy is assigned to each hierarchy, and an information identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to each hierarchy. ,
Said in-hierarchy identification symbol of the lower hierarchy to which the information belongs;
An identification symbol assigning step including an identification symbol including an identification symbol in a higher hierarchy to which the lower hierarchy belongs; and specifying the identification symbol in the hierarchy of a predetermined hierarchy by a predetermined designation symbol set in advance An information processing method comprising: a designation step; and a retrieval step of retrieving information corresponding to the information identification symbol specified by the designation symbol in the hierarchy at the predetermined hierarchy. 8. An information processing program for managing information in a plurality of layers, wherein an in-layer identification symbol for identifying information in each layer is assigned to each layer, and an information identification symbol for identifying information is assigned to each layer.
Said in-hierarchy identification symbol of the lower hierarchy to which the information belongs;
An identification symbol assigning step including an identification symbol including an identification symbol in a higher hierarchy to which the lower hierarchy belongs; and specifying the identification symbol in the hierarchy of a predetermined hierarchy by a predetermined designation symbol set in advance A medium for causing a computer to execute a program, comprising: a designation step; and a retrieval step of retrieving information corresponding to the information identification symbol in which the identification symbol in the predetermined hierarchy is designated by the designation symbol. .